The Reason FoundersAreHiring Was Created
Discover why a startup CTO built FoundersAreHiring to fix broken hiring processes. No recruiters, no résumé spam just direct, curated startup hiring for real builders.
If you’ve tried hiring in the last few years, you already know it’s a mess. Resumes read like SEO landing pages. AI-generated cover letters flood inboxes. Recruiters spam roles without understanding team dynamics. Founders waste hours on calls with candidates who look great on paper but can’t explain what they’ve actually built. The traditional hiring model hasn’t just aged it’s actively working against startups that need signal, speed, and alignment. This is the backdrop that led me to build FoundersAreHiring.
From Code to Chaos
I’ve spent close to a decade building products. Started solo just me, a laptop, and a mess of bugs. Over the years, I’ve helped launch crypto exchanges, mobile wallets, and banking platforms. A few of them went on to raise more than $45 million collectively.
Now I work as a fractional CTO. I step into early-stage startups, clean up their tech debt, and get them ready to scale. I enjoy fixing things. But one problem kept showing up everywhere: hiring.
The Resume Problem
Resumes used to say something. Now they say nothing.
The tipping point came during a hiring sprint for a fintech client. I spent three straight weekends reviewing over 300 resumes. Almost all looked great on paper polished, full of ATS-optimized keywords, and packed with action verbs. But once we got on calls, most candidates struggled to explain even the basics of what they’d built. I realized I wasn’t screening humans anymore I was screening the output of ChatGPT and résumé templates. That disconnect was costing me time, energy, and momentum. So I stopped. I sketched a simple workflow that filtered noise, skipped middlemen, and connected directly with people who actually wanted to build. That sketch became FoundersAreHiring.
AI tools and keyword hacks have turned them into clutter. Most resumes are optimized for bots, not people. I’d read ten, maybe twenty in a row, and still have no idea who the person really is or what they’ve built.
Worse most candidates can’t articulate what kind of teammate they want to be. They’re reciting frameworks, not experiences. For a founder or tech lead, this wastes hours.
Outsourcing didn’t help. Agencies just play the same keyword game. They’re not evaluating team fit, mindset, or even location alignment. Just CVs sorted by search score.
So I Built What I Needed
I wasn’t trying to build a company. I was trying to survive another round of hiring.
I needed a tool that skipped the noise. Something faster, simpler, and human. Not another job board but a system aligned with how real builders work.
That’s when FoundersAreHiring (FAH) came to life.
At first, it was just for me. Then a few friends tried it. Then more. It turns out, everyone hated hiring the way I did.
I had to push a bit to get my co-founder on board. He was buried in backend and infra work, and hiring felt like just another headache not something worth solving at the product level. But I kept bringing it up, pointing out how much time we were both wasting on interviews that went nowhere and resumes full of noise. After one especially bad round of screening, I told him, “This isn’t about bad candidates it’s a broken process.” That stuck. We didn’t overthink it. We just started sketching what we wished existed. That’s how FAH began out of shared pain and the need for something that actually works. (You can read his take on it here)
What Makes FAH Different
Direct, Founder-Led Hiring
No recruiters. No middle layers. Founders connect directly with candidates from day one. It keeps the intent pure, the expectations aligned, and the feedback loop fast.
Curated Job Drops Only
No endless scroll. No algorithmic feeds. Every week, FAH sends a focused list of high-quality, open roles that are hand-verified. No noise. No spam.
Real Signal in Every Post
Every listing shows what actually matters team size, product stage, equity terms, async/sync expectations, and cultural DNA. We encourage founders to share what kind of ambiguity the role includes, what failure looks like, and what success unlocks.
Background-Agnostic
We don’t care where you studied or whether your résumé has the “right” verbs. If you’ve built something meaningful, you belong here. FAH prioritizes real-world output over polished credentials.
Global Reach for Overlooked Talent
Most platforms center around SF, NYC, or Berlin. FAH actively highlights talent from tier-2 cities and emerging tech ecosystems. Builders from cities like Lagos, Tbilisi, Medellín, or Vilnius should have the same access as anyone in Palo Alto.
No Resume Spam
FAH blocks spray-and-pray applications. Each application requires genuine effort, so founders only see serious intent and relevant fit. We cut résumé bloat at the source.
Fast Job Creation, No Bloat
Posting a job takes under 15 minutes. No long forms, no "upload cover letter," no irrelevant mandatory fields. Just the essentials: who you are, what you're building, and who you want beside you.
Context Over Keywords
We’re not trying to game trends like résumé keyword stuffing. FAH emphasizes clarity, not gimmicks. Candidates are encouraged to share projects, GitHub links, case studies, or voice notes instead of just formatted PDFs.
Built by a Founder, for Founders
FAH wasn’t a startup idea. It was a fix. I needed hiring to stop draining time and focus. I couldn’t find a tool that worked like I did so I built one.
If you’re tired of resume junkyards, ghosting, and talent mismatch, FAH might be what you need too.
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